WITH a growing drug threat, extremely porous borders and mounting global tensions regional leaders have renewed talks on a Pacific military intervention force.
The force is likely to be an extension of the Pacific Response Group (PRG) formed in 2024 to respond to natural disasters and other crises.
Regional military and police units have been deployed to Bougainville and Solomon Islands after militant uprisings, and to Vanuatu in December 2024 after a major earthquake.
Last year, the South Pacific Defence Ministers’ Meeting endorsed a move to “broaden the mandate” of the group beyond disaster response to include “stabilisation operations”.
Now, defence officials from across the region want a treaty with which to develop a framework that would help govern regional deployments, including by the PRG.
Tongan Defence Forces Chief of Staff, Brigadier Lord Fielakepa, said he wanted to see a region first approach to crises.
“This is our home — we have to get together and work together and help each other first,” he said.
This suggests deployments during regional crises of Pacific troops or police with logistical and intelligence support from Australia and New Zealand.
The Chief of the Australian Defence Force Admiral David Johnston said the PRG would form a hub for crisis response.
“We’re really building it out, so we have all of those options available for our leaders and for any Pacific country to call for that support,” Johnston said.
He said models under consideration for the PRG were “focused on the region taking the lead on the problems or security issues that emerge … and bringing the best of our capabilities together.”
After the Joint Heads of Pacific Security meeting in Australia this week, leaders agreed to commence negotiations on a Regional Operations Deployment Framework Treaty. This agreement will provide a flexible and responsive mechanism so Pacific nations could offer assistance more quickly.
In 2025 Fijian troops deployed to Australia to help with relief efforts after major bushfires in Victoria. And units from the Fijian, Papua New Guinea, and Tongan armies have started to exercise in Australia with the Australian defence Force.
More recently, patrol boats from a number of Pacific navies and police forces have joined the Royal Australian Navy in exercises designed to build a regional alliance.
This is part of efforts to stop China gaining a security foothold in the region.
